Infant feeding device



.imm 1970 D. A. DENNY 3,437,9@9

LNFANT FEEDING DEVICE Filed Aug. 18, 1967 United States Patent O Int. Cl. A61j 9/00 U.S. Cl. 21S-11 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An infant feeding assembly including a nipple having air vent holes formed therein and provided with an annular flange formed on the internal surface of the nipple and arranged to sealingly engage the finish of the bottle when the nipple is compressed against the open end neck portion of the bottle prior to the bottle being opened for feeding. The annular flange is provided with very small passages to allow the passage of air from the vent holes in the nipple to the interior of the bottle. The assembly also includes a protective cap or shroud and retaining ring structure which clamps and maintains the assembly together. The protective cap encloses the nipple during the storage period and is connected to the assembly in such a manner as it compresses the nipple and positively closes the air vent holes and seals the entire assembly from leakage while in storage, thus providing a fluid-tight, sterile feeding unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel nipple structure for use with a nursing bottle or container assembly.

In the prior art, it has been found that infant feeding devices which include nipples require means to vent the interior of the container to the atmosphere exterior of the container to equalize the internal and external pressures to afford a regular and easy liquid flow. Otherwise, as the child sucks on the nipple and draws the fluid from the container, a vacuum will be formed on the inside of the container, the nipple will collapse, and theow of fluid from the container will stop. This situation will frustrate the child, cause excessive sucking, and disrupt the otherwise normal and enjoyable feeding experience.

With the present demand for completely disposable units of all types, there is a demandlfor completely disposable sealed sterile container assemblies capable of storage in compact spaces for long periods of time. These assemblies include a disposable dispenser container, a nipple, and a protective cover therefor, which are maintained in a sterilized condition while in storage. Such units must be so constructed as to remain completely sealed and allow no leakage of fluid internally or externally. These disposable feeding units must include adequate venting means for optimum feeding conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a feeding device having an improved nipple structure providing air vent .means therein which will be effective at all times to prevent a vacuum within the bottle and the collapsing of the feeding nipple during use. The nursing unit protects the sterile condition prior to usage, and includes a nipple defining an annular flange which seats against the finish which includes passage means defined therebetween and interconnects the vent holes located in the nipple sidewall with the interior of the container during the feeding process.

The structure by means of which the above noted an other advantages of the invention will be attained will be fully described in the following specification taken in con-A 3,487,969 Patented Jan. 6, 1970 ICC junction with the accompanying drawings showing illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the feeding unit assembly in a closed position, sealed for storage;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the feeding unit assembly shown in FIGURE 1 with the protective cap or shroud removed from the assembly and the feeding unit ready for use;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view taken on line 3 3 of FIGURE 2 showing a portion of the annular flange of the nipple;

FIGURE 4 is an end view taken on line 4 4 of FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the feeding unit assembly having a modified form of nipple and is shown with the protective cap or shroud removed and the feeding unit ready for use;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of the modified feeding unit assembly shown in FIGURE 5 and is illustrated in the closed or sealed position for storage;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary view taken on line 7 7 of FIGURE 5 showing a portion of the modified design of the annular flange of the nipple; and

FIGURE 8 is an end view of that shown in FIGURE 7 and is taken on line 8 8 of FIGURE 7.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURES 1, 2, 3, and 4, the container or bottle 10 has a nipple disposed thereon which is generally referred to by the number 12. The unitary protective cap and retaining ring structure is indicated by the number 14.

The bottle 10 is conventional in form and has an open end neck portion 16 defining an annular upper edge surface 18 conventionally referred to `as the bottle finish. The outer periphery of the neck portion 16 is provided with a circumferential retaining bead or ridge 20. The ridge or bead 20 may be in the form of a helical screw thread having at least one complete turn around the periphery of the bottle neck 16, or a continuous coplanar bead, as indicated at 20. While this forms no part of the invention, the use of a helical screw thread or coplanar bead is determined by the type of retaining ring assembly that is used to secure or clamp the entire unit toegther.

The unitary protective cap or shroud and clamping or retaining ring assembly 14 comprises a cylindrical cap portion 22 having closed end 24, vertically extending sidewalls 26, a horizontally extending flange portion 28 formed at the lower end of the sidewalls 26, and a vertically extending annular skirt 30 terminating at the point of connection to the annular clamping or retaining ring 32.

The annular clamping or retaining ring 32 is provided with an inwardly extending annular flange 34, an annular vertically extending skirt portion 36, and an inwardly extending annular ange 38, which, as mentioned above, embraces by crimping, or the like, the lower edge of the bead 20 to retain the entire assembly. The shroud or cap 14 is connected to the ring 32 by a frangible connection (not shown) at the point where skirt 30 joints ange 34 at the retaining ring 32.

The improved nipple 12, asy shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3, and 4, includes a teat portion 40 having one or more apertures 42 provided therein. The nipple 12 is hollow and comprises an outwardly extending flared portion 44, a horizontally extending annular shoulder portion 46, a vertically extending annular wall portion 48, and a larger diameter base ange 50. The underside of the base flange 50 is seated and sealingly engaged with the upper surface of the bead 20 and is retained thereto by the clamping or retaining ring 32. The upper inwardly extending flange 34 of the clamping ring 32 engages the upper surface of the nipple base flange 50 to affix the assembly in place.

As will be seen in FIGURE 2, when the shroud 14 has been removed the vertically extending wall portion 48 of the nipple 12 is provided with a vent hole 52. Furthermore, the internal annular surface of the lwall portion 48 encircles the outer periphery of the bottle neck 16 above the bead 20, but does not engage such surface. Thus, a recess or gap 54 is formed therebetween adjacent the inner end of vent hole 52.

In both embodiments of the invention, there are two vent holes 52 provided in the wall portion 48 of the nipple 12 and they are diametrically opposed and are best seen in FIGURE 1 showing the feeding unit assembly in the storage or closed position. However, any number of vent holes 52 could be provided, depending on their size and the particular requirements of the feeding unit assembly.

On the internal surface of the nipple, above the gap 54, there is provided an inwardly projecting shoulder or flange 56 which defines an internal annular recess 58 between the upper surface of flange 56 and the lower internal surface of shoulder 46. This particular recess 58 is only present in structure shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. It should be noted that flange 56 extends over, but does not engage the bottle finish 18 when the assembly is ready for use, as shown in FIGURE 2. When the unit is closed as in FIGURE 1, the shroud 56 sealingly engages the bottle finish 18 to restrict fluid from leaking or flowing to gap or recess 54.

Referring also to FIGURES l and 2, it will be noted .that a disk member 60 serves to provide an effective seal between bottle and the interior of the nipple 12 when the assembly is in the closed position shown in FIGURE 1. Disk 60 has formed on the underside thereof a series of radially extending grooves 62 which serve to allow the fluid to pass around the disk when the unit is in the feeding position shown in FIGURE 2. The disk 60 forms no part of the present invention and could be made in several forms. For example, notches could be placed in the outer periphery of the disk 60 to allow the passage of fluid thereby.

As originally stated, it is the intention of this invention to provide an annular flange which will sealingly engage with a major portion of the finish of the bottle 18, but which will define passageways that will serve in cooperation with the air vents 52, to allow the ingress of air to the bottle as the infant sucks and draws fluid from the bottle through nipple apertures 42.

The particular flange structure shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3, and 4 includes an annular flange integrally formed on the inner end of sealing flange or shoulder 56. The annular flange 64 angularly depends from the shoulder or flange 56 and when assembled with the bottle engages the inner edge portion of bottle finish 18.

The flange 64 is constructed as hown in FIGURE 1, 2, 3, and 4, in which there are provided on its inner surface 66 a plurality of very small uniformly disposed radial grooves 68. Such grooves provide air passageways over the finish 18 and interconnect the vent 52 with the interior of the bottle.

The modified structure shown in FIGURES 5, 6, 7, and 8 embodies essentially the same constructional details as those shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3, and 4 with the exception that this particular form does not include a sealing disk 60. Furthermore, the improved nipple 12 provides an alternate construction for the inwardly extending annular flange 64. In this embodiment, the inner surface 70 of flange 64, which engages the :bottle finish 18 is provided with one or more uniformly disposed radial lips 72. The lips 72 engage the bottle finish 18 and support the surface 70 with respect to the bottle finish 18. By such means gaps 73 are formed between the lips 72, the surface 70, and the bottle finish 18, which define very small air passageways between the vent 52 and the interior of the bottle.

In operation, when the iinit is in the position shown in FIGURE lf the. pretesti@ sap 1l Secured. t9 the clamping ring 32 by frangible connections (not shown) and compresses and restrains the nipple structure against the finish 18 and the outer periphery of the bottle neck 16 in such a manner as to fill all recesses and seal the entire unit from any leakage of fluid. The recess 58 which is provided on the inner surface of the nipple 12 to contain and seat the sealing disk 60 is compressed against the disk 60 and its grooves 62 to prevent fluid from flowing around the disk 60 into the upper portion of the hollow nipple 12. The compression of the shroud onto the nipple and its retention to the retaining ring 32 by the frangible connection closes the vent holes 52 and compresses the annular shoulder 56 and the lip portion 64 against the bottle finish 18 to insure complete sealing of the unit for storage.

When the unit is readied for use, the shroud or cap 14 is deformed enough to sever it from the frangible connections coupling it to the retaining ring 32 and it is removed from the bottle to uncover the nipple 12. When this occurs, the nipple will expand to the feeding position shown in FIGURES 2 and 5, which will allow fluid to pass through the hollow portion of the nipple to the feeding aperture 42 in response to sucking by the infant. As the infant draws the fluid from the bottle, air will pass through the vent holes 52 into the recess or gap 54 between the bottle neck outer periphery, the vertical wall 48 intersurface. The air admitted through the vents 52 will pass over the bottle finish 18 through the grooves 68 (FIGURE 3), or gaps 73 (FIGURE 5) defined by the undersurface of annular flange 64 into the interior of the bottle, to replace the volume of fluid which has been removed during the feeding process.

The grooves 68 and gaps 73 are designed so that essentially no fluid will leak out of the bottle, but they will permit air to pass between the finish 18 of the bottle and the underside of the flange 64 into the bottle when a partial vacuum is created therein. The apertures or vent holes 52 are of suflicient size to permit enough air to enter to prevent the development of a vacuum on the inside of the bottle. As previously explained, without such ventmeans a vacuum would occur, the nipple would collapse and the passage of milk to the child would be stopped. Thus, this novel nipple is so designed to insure proper venting at all times, but is not susceptible to leaking when the bottle is tilted for use.

While there are shown and described herein certain specific structures embodying the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and rearrangements of this specific structure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the underlying invention and that the same is not limited to the particular forms herein shown and described.

What is claimed is:

-1. A feeding nipple adapted to be sealingly secured to the neck of a feeding bottle having a top finish surface, saidnipple comprising a teat portion at one end thereof, andan open end portion at the opposite end thereof defined by an outwardly extending annular flange, an integral, annular, substantially vertical wall defining a vent aperture extending therethrough disposed between the teat portion and the outwardly extending annular flange, said nipple also having a first annular inwardly extending flange portion disposed between said teat portion and the vent aperture and a second annular angularly disposed flange portion secured to the inner end of said first flange portion and extending downwardly and inwardly therefrom, said first flange portion .being adapted to overlie the top finish surface of said bottle and the second flange portion being adapted to contact the top finish surface adjacent the inner edge of said top finish surface, said second flange portion having a plurality of discrete passageways in its lower surface whereby air entering said Vent aperture can flow through said passageways in said secondI annular flange portion.

2, The feeding nipple set forth in claim 1 in which said passageways are circum'ferentially spaced radially extending grooves.

3. The feeding nipple set forth in claim 1 in which said angularly disposed flange is provided on its bottom surface with circumferentially spaced radial lips which define therebetween said passageways.

4. A feeding unit assembly comprising a bottle comprising a neck portion having a finish at its upper end, means for securing a hollow nipple to and in sealing engagement with said bottle neck portion and below said finish, said nipple including a tea portion at one end, an annular outwardly extending flange portion adjacent the other end and in sealing engagement with said bottle neck portion, an annular vertical wall portion defining a vent opening and disposed between said teat portion and said outwardly extending annular ange portion, a first annular inwardly extending flange member disposed between said tea portion and the vent opening in said vertical wall portion and overlying said finish, a second annular angularly disposed ange member secured to said first annular flange member and extending downwardly and inwardly therefrom into engagement with said finish adjacent the internal edge of said finish, said second angularly disposed flange member having a plurality of discrete passageways in the bottom surface of said second flange member and in communication with exterior air through said vent opening whereby when the bottle is in the feeding condition and a partial vacuum is created therein air will be introduced into the interior of the bottle through said vent opening and said passageways.

5. The feeding bottle assembly set forth in claim 4 in which said second angularly disposed flange member is provided on its bottom surface with circumferentially spaced grooves confronting said finish to form said pas sageways to permit the flow of air between said second angularly disposed flange member and said finish.

6. The feeding bottle assembly set forth in claim 4 in which said second angularly disposed flange member is provided on its bottom surface with circumferentially spaced radial lips which form with the finish said passageways through which air flowing through the vent opening is introduced into the bottle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

